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Killer nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer sentenced to life in prison

Concurrent sentences mean she can apply for parole after 25 years, but judge notes there’s no guarantee she’ll get it.

By Emma McIntoshStaff Reporter

Mon., June 26, 2017

WOODSTOCK, ONT.— Elizabeth Wettlaufer, described by a judge as “the shadow of death,” was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years for the murders of eight elderly patients in her care.

The sentence was delivered in a Woodstock courtroom in the presence of friends and relatives of her victims, many in tears. The former nurse, 50, listened to her fate, expressionless.

“She was the shadow of death passing over them on the night shift where she supervised,” said Justice Bruce Thomas.

Ontario will call an independent public inquiry into the case now that it has concluded.

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“It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure a tragedy such as this does not happen again,” Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in a statement Monday.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer, shown on June 1, returns to the Woodstock courthouse today for a sentencing hearing. (Peter Power / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

“What happened was a tragedy. That’s why we are establishing an independent public inquiry to look into the circumstances in this case.”

Wettlaufer had admitted to fatally injecting her victims with insulin — a grueling, painful way to die, Thomas noted —at three long-term care facilities and a private home between 2007 and 2014, making her one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history.

The sentence was delivered after the court heard 19 gut-wrenching victim impact statements, many of which were read by sobbing loved ones of victims. Arpad Horvath Jr., whose father Wettlaufer murdered, was one of the few who looked into the ex-nurse’s eyes as he spoke.

“I know I saw fear,” he said. “I think maybe she understands the hatred I have for her, the utter contempt I have for her, and I think it finally got through to her that what she did was wrong… I’m hoping that her conscience is her prison.”

Convictions for first-degree murder trigger an automatic sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.

In addition to Wettlaufer’s life sentence for murder, she was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of the four attempted murder counts and seven years on each of the aggravated assault counts. All the sentences are to be served concurrently.

Before she was sentenced, Wettlaufer said she was truly sorry for her actions and the pain she has caused — something noted by Thomas as he delivered her sentence.

She said she hoped the families of her victims can find peace and healing.

Wettlaufer also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of four others and two charges of aggravated assault.

The murder victims ranged in age from 75 to 96. Their friends and relatives said they never suspected anything untoward about the deaths, and widely expressed grief and guilt over not recognizing that Wettlaufer planned to kill.

The investigation into Wettlaufer began last September after she confessed to some of the killings to staff at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, who passed the information on to police.

A registered nurse since 1995, Wettlaufer resigned a day after Woodstock police first received information about the crimes. She has been in custody since she was formally arrested in late October, and did not apply for bail.

Prior to her arrest, Wettlaufer had lived a troubled life.

She was an alcohol and opioid addict who had twice been to rehab. Her 10-year marriage ended in 2007, not long before she committed her first murder.

Wettlaufer’s professional conduct is also under investigation by the College of Nurses of Ontario, the field’s regulatory body in the province.

The college has come under pressure for its handling of the case, as Wettlaufer continued working after she was fired from Woodstock’s Caressant Care nursing home for a medication error in March 2014.

Speaking to media outside the courthouse as thunder crashed overhead, family and friends of the victims said they were happy with the decision, but that they would never forgive Wettlaufer or get over the pain of what happened.

Trust in long-term care providers is permanently broken, and the provincial government needs to take steps to prevent something similar from happening ever again, said Laura Jackson, a friend of victim Maurice Granat.

“There’s no taking back what she did and I don’t think she’s really sorry,” Jackson said.

“I don’t think she should ever get the possibility of parole, ever. I think she should spend the rest of her life in a small box contemplating what she’s done.”

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